PrintMay 8, 2013
Concerns over the unknown costs of ObamaCare killing immigration reform
As a supporter of a practical immigration reform that focuses on "work visas" and bringing in people with advanced degrees, I understand those who are a bit skeptical about another "long bill" without a specific idea of costs.
Frankly, I am growing more and more skeptical, too. Does anyone seriously think that we can add any more layers to our welfare state? The US is not immune from reality.
We learn daily about the problems with ObamaCare, from the advent of part time workers to taxes that were only supposed to be for the rich.
Again, don't blame people for asking tough questions about the new immigration proposal. We need questions and specific answers. Senators Rubio, Blake & McCain need to get busy explaining what this will cost or it will fail.
The Heritage Foundation study has a price tag that even Democrats will think twice about:
"Heritage says the costs come from more than $9 trillion in government benefits to newly legalized immigrants over their lifetimes -- only partially counterbalanced by $3 trillion they would pay in taxes."
We spoke with Mike Gonzalez of Heritage on my show Tuesday.
The Heritage report forces us to consider the financial risk of legalizing people who will become consumers of social services. Yes, they will pay taxes but they will receive many times more in services.
This is why we need to burn up the 844-pages of immigration reform and write a simple law that does not have a path to citizenship, creates a "guest worker visa" for those who want to work and facilitates entry for engineers and other high tech workers because we need them.
